Gifts (Ra'idah) - Dragon's Lair

The summons (Little 's') went out through the standard methods.  He would sit and wait for his child to arrive.  Before him, a trio of onyx stones no larger than a medium sized marble sat.  Each was remarkably similar to the next, only specific cuts differentiating one from the next.

[size=7.199999809265137]
Intelligence 9 + Occult 9 (18) + Occult Library 5 (+3 Dice, -2 Difficulty) + Greater Sign of Power (-2 Difficulty) + Ties that Bind (-1 Difficulty)
Sanity of Earth: Base Difficulty 7 (4 + 3 (Level)), Reduced to 2 (Above), 21 Dice
Vires Acuirit Eundo: Base Difficulty 9 (4 + 5 (Level)), Reduced to 4 (Above), 21 Dice
Crafts: Dexterity 9 + Crafts 9, 18 Dice

First Stone
Craft (Diamond Cutting, Princess Cut): 4 8 9 0 4 4 6 7 6 0 8 0 8 1 3 1 6 3; Reroll: 7  Net: 9 Successes
Sanity of Earth: 5 9 8 6 9 8 5 2 6 8 4 2 1 9 7 6 8 1 9 0 1 Net: 16 Successes
Vires Acuirit Eundo: 6 3 6 3 4 7 6 0 4 1 6 0 2 8 2 0 2 3 9 5 4 Rerolls: 8 2  Net: 14 Successes

Second Stone
Craft (Diamond Cutting, Passions Cut): 6 3 5 3 2 4 6 5 6 0 1 4 5 0 0 1 7 3 Reroll: 0 Reroll: 6 Net: 8 Successes
Sanity of Earth: 3 4 2 3 3 1 7 2 3 5 7 8 9 6 7 0 8 6 4 1 6  Net: 17 Successes
Vires Acuirit Eundo: 7 8 6 6 0 2 7 9 7 1 7 9 9 0 6 3 5 6 7 4 6 Reroll: 6  Net: 18 Successes

Third Stone
Craft (Diamond Cutting, Old European Cut): 5 2 3 8 0 7 9 5 3 6 0 4 9 0 8 6 3 2 Reroll: 2 3 7  Net: 11 Successes
Sanity of Earth: 3 1 6 0 8 7 0 8 8 4 1 4 1 3 7 6 2 0 2 0 4 Reroll: 3  Net: 16 Successes
Vires Acuirit Eundo: 4 8 7 3 2 9 1 9 5 0 2 2 5 1 5 7 2 7 8 2 8  Net: 12 Successes
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The summons was enough to bring her to him. Of course it was. So she strolled up quickly, since one always came quickly to their Sire's call, but she wasn't running, by any means.

She would be shown in like normal, and up the hill to the table that was so often used. He waved an hand, offering the seating selection to her on arrival. Unlike so many other times, he didn't bother masking himself to any visible degree. "Welcome, Mihaela."

She gave him a smile, full of affection, before she took a seat.

"Good evening, Father."

Of course it came in the Romanian that they both seemed to prefer, and took a seat to his right. His right, damn you.

His hands returned to their neutrally clasped position atop the table after the gesture and her seating.

"How have your evenings been of late, Mihaela?"

She smiled.

"Busy. Fallen and carnivals do that. And how have you been, Father? I apologize that I have not been by to see you more often."

They both knew that she both was sorry, and that it was better that she didn't.

He turned his head to the left -- towards the Ocean and the silhouette of the large collections of gems -- obviously to emphasize his activities to her, then back to her.

"I have also been busy. It seems that Caesar's rending of one of the foolish former-servants to the Christian Deity has left a lasting feeling with him. A fear of water, even. It is unfortunate that he may need to be remade shortly to compensate for this weakness."

He paused in his words before continuing, knowing she had a fondness for the reptile. "Your brother has also begun monitoring the domain for those the Infernal -- their naming is merely semantic -- that seize new human hosts. As soon as he has their True names, the elements will be turned against them forever more," he shook his head in obvious disappointment. "They should not have sought to lead my interests astray."

Her brow rose as she heard about Caesar. She did have a fondness for the creature, which meant that once the conversation was done, she was going to go give him attention - just in case.

"It was unwise of them, certainly. But I have never known creatures such as they to be any less than arrogant, and that is a flaw in their creation."

She paused and looked out toward the mountain.

"It is a beautiful creation. I am quite amused that no one has called me to investigate it yet."

"Its use is coming soon. But until then, it will serve as a fitting distraction. So far, Victor Morton has tried to send his hand to its roof, Grace Dunn has tried to fly to it, Mathew St Hubert has attempted to swim to it, Marvin Johnson has attempted to row to it, and Shauna McCade has looked at it through multi-range binoculars. It is curious that they have done nothing after being turned away, however.

"No matter, however, they lack the vision and the ability to breach its walls in any capacity, and it is far better defended than the wrist slap they received would suggest it has. Likewise, the Carnival will come and go, and the majority of the domain will remain."

"It is the minority of the domain that does not remain that concerns me. There are those I would rather not see taken into its clutches."

Yes, that was accompanied by a pointed look.

He picked up the first and second stones of the trio, moving them infront of her atop the table.

"These are the newest items to steel one's mind against the machinations of others," yes, obviously bearing no mind of the prior topic. "Specifically against the unique abilities of the Lunatics. This one," he moved the 'passions-cut' 'black' diamond a touch closer. "Is yours. While this," a gesture to the other. "Is for your little Rose." Yes, the Princess-cut.

"I expect each to last just over a week. If the Fool you had decided to take on in some capacity previously decides to turn his Madness on you or he while these are on your person he will likely find it quite impossible."

Her brow lifted curiously.

"I assume that you refer to my 'little Rose' to mean Estaban rather than Cassiel? For my interactions with Marvin, he is teaching me the inner workings of the Lunatics in exchange for me teaching him of demons. Not the Fallen, just demons. At least, these are the assumptions I must make, as I do not tend to speak to very many Lunatics."

He nodded. "Yes, Fortunato. The one who may as well devolve to a spitting match with Johnson the Younger," making the differentiation between Marvin and his Primogen. "You collect Toreador, now?"

"Only when demons threaten them. One came through my ward at the 'accepted' haven not long ago, but none have yet breached the one upon my actual home. I spoke with Cassiel, and at the request of Prince, Fortunato and the Toreador herself, I am working on breaking the pact that she has with the demon."

When she spoke of the Fallen, she did not call them anything other than 'demon.' To call them 'Fallen' would have given them more credit than she had decided that they were worth, using the term only to differentiate between what she taught Marvin. They were all just demons to her.

"Why do they simply not destroy the host? The nuisances will run out of suitable bodies eventually. Or, perhaps, they will learn the pointlessness of their pursuit and choose a less hostile region."

"Dangerous words, dear sister," He was sitting across from her, suddenly. "Aside from the impossibility of these Fallen buffoons from actually forging pacts with we Cainites, Kindred, Vampires, Damned, and whatever other moniker a particular brand chooses to call themselves, all that suggestion will move is to have Father bring those who think they've agreed to terms together and make a charnel house of their remains." And, that smile. "Better safe than sorry, and all that."

"The trick is, the Catholic Church and Christianity was right. Well before their inception, they were right. Samiel and Saulot's other children were right. But that isn't to say that we were necessarily wrong," he shook his head. "No, I imagine if one was capable of actually summoning the likes of Nestrecha or Chernogolov," he made several motions of warding and apology immedately after each name. "Without being summarily killed, they could likely smite these fools from existence and back to whatever Abyss, Hell or Maelstrom from which they actually originated from," he leaned forward across the table -- but not quite even half way, his voice changing to a mock-whisper. "Personally, I think they're all the same place." And he moved back to the seat.

"Hm, perhaps a particular invocation of Marena's wrath could hemmorage these Heaven's-Rejects of their collected faith? Her power already robs us of precious vitae, but with potential cross-application, She could be aimed at other sorts, too, I imagine."

She shook her head.

"While I have no doubt that the power of our family could easily take care of these creatures, the fact still remains that the applications of which you speak are quite risky, dear brother. From what I have found, the speaking of their names is enough to call their attention upon us, and they have a wide range of power that most of us cannot hope to possess. That said, I have no real fear of the risk, but would rather all involved be prepared for the possibility of things going awry."

While the children bickered, he took the moment to 'append' their respective personality and knowledge profiles in his own memory, should anything unfortunate happen to them in the forseeable future. From there, it spread to the others, to live amongst the new collective knowledge of his various bodies.

"The invocation of the old Gods from times forgotten are as dangerous as they are powerful, and the threat -- perceived and actual -- of these foolish Demons has not elevated to pose sufficient challenge to bring about Their attentions. The case is the same with this Carnival."

At that, her brow rose.

"You do not believe that the Carnival is a significant enough threat to pull out all of the stops to make certain it does not harm any of us?"

"There is little enough data available to determine what would ward it from us, or others, and what would draw its attention to the same. It is not here, its initial interests have not been made obvious, and as such there is little to act on. If its persisting goals are to collect oddities of large power and note, then overreacting before there is something to react to will simply draw its attention, and increase the likelihood of abduction. I have doubts that entering it freely would preclude one's exit, if one conducts theirself plainly enough."

She frowned.

"Possibly. But there are some that I would rather not take the risk."

Another pointed look. At both of them, actually.